Adam Smith Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Francis W. Hirst

Critical Essay by Francis W. Hirst

SOURCE: "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," in Adam Smith, Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1904, pp. 46–67.

In the following excerpt from a chapter on The Theory of Moral Sentiments in Hirst's full-length study of Smith's career, Hirst focuses on Smith's notion of virtue, discussing the primary components of his system of ethics, sympathy, and the conscience.

… With all its faults, the Theory of Moral Sentiments is still one of the most instructive and entertaining of all our English treatises on ethics. There is plenty of warmth and colour. The argument is never bare; you follow its thread through a wondrous maze, till your perplexities are solved, and you finally congratulate yourself as well as the author on having rejected all the errors and collected all the wisdom of the ages. When the main theme threatens to be tedious he entertains you with an imaginary portrait, or digresses into some...
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